Thursday, 24 December 2009

Rum Cake with Fruits & Nuts

When I came across this wonderful Fruit & Nut cake in Sunita's beautiful blog, I knew I had to try making it. So inspite of not blogging for a while .... oh ... am not away from the kitchen though ... just don't feel like making the beautiful dishes always a subject and train the camera on them till they fall flat or go cold with disappointment.With a little cold here finally, hot dishes & soups are being enjoyed real hot .... from the stove or oven to the plates and famished tummies. :-)

A small disappointment did rile me for a while ... our travel plans were cancelled .... no, postponed ... for hubby's work. :-(

And my very original Instant Moong Dal Halwa , which has been made and loved by a lot of readers .... both bloggers and non bloggers equally .... showering me with mails and comments .... which has made me very proud of my recipe and happy too ... is unhappy.A blogger who has appreciated it here has gone and used another blogger's comment space to call it yuck (without trying to make it). :-( I really don't know what to make of it.But such little things are not going to put me down.
The first issue is solved ... I have been promised a trip soon .... so am happy. :-)And I am deluged with visiting friends and family now that the hols have started .... best friend D is here from Dubai ... my KG friend is visiting next with wife .... hubby found a long lost friend from college ... so the days are rushing by in a blur.

I was very excited at the thought of baking a rum cake. Back from a Book Fair, with two huge bundles of books in my arms, I was a spectacle ... well ... the guys in the shop looked real amused ... when buying rum from a shop ( hubby's presence did not help much ). ;-) I went through Sunita's recipe and for a change did not want to experiment or deviate too much.Just made a few changes more out of necessity than anything else ...

* I used maida / APF instead of atta / whole wheat flour.* I reduced the amount of eggs to three.* I used plain white sugar.* I added a little vanilla essence lest my veggie ( ok ... eggitarian ) hubby gets a 'smell'.* I had no nutmeg ... so could not add it.* Ground a few cloves ( that I put in the sugar jar ) with the sugar.* And since I tend to keep my cake batters a little too liquid, I added some Cranberry juice ( that was the only juice I had at home then) to make it more liquid.

I have stuck to my usual measurements of a cake ... still the batter was voluminous ... I made two cakes and six cupcakes out of these measurements.

2 cups maida / apf ,
3 eggs,
1/2 tsp baking soda,
2 tbsp baking powder,
1 and 1/2 cup sugar,
a few drops of vanilla essence ( do not use too much ...
... or you can skip it too if you are used to eggs ) ,
a few cloves and cinnamon,
dark rum,
8 tbsp cooking oil,
zest of one orange and juice of one orange ( I used the same orange ),
dates, walnuts, cashews, black raisins.
Any fruit juice ( if needed ) ... I used a little Cranberry juice.

How to :

Chop or break the fruits and nuts and soak them in a cupful of water and rum in 1:1 ratio ( I used a small soupbowl and soaked them for half an hour).

Then pour them into a pan and cook on low heat till they are almost dry. Cool.Add the orange zest ( added the juice and pulp too ) and keep aside.

Grind the sugar finely with the cloves and cinnamon.Mix the flour, baking powder and baking soda together.

Whisk the eggs + oil + sugar + a drop of vanilla essence + 4 tbsp rum with an electric beater or in a mixie.Add the flour in and mix well.

Pre heat oven at 150 degrees ( I am used to baking cakes at this temperature .... refer Sunita's recipe for her version).

Mix in the dry fruits to the batter.

Grease a cake mould and dust it with a little flour.Pour in the batter and put to bake.Do not forget to keep checking ... I often switch off the oven in between for even baking.Bake till an inserted toothpick or skewer or knife comes out clean.

Sunita advises to cover the mould after a while of baking .... listen to her. :-)I did not ... and the top got browned very quickly.

But all was not lost ... I decreased the temp. immediately and let it bake in a very low temperature.

Later I tried to pry off the top layer ... it was very thin and came away like an obedient child .... and there was nothing noticable at all.

This turned out to be the most wonderful cake I have ever baked .... too soft .... I pressed a piece with a finger and it slowly rose up again!

And when I bit into it, I was taken back to my childhood .... when Bapi ( Dad ) would get a Fruit cake everytime he went to Calcutta on a bussiness trip. I used to pick out the raisins then .... I still do from other cakes .... but this time I savoured every bit.

I just closed my eyes and was back home in the chilling winters .... holidays ..... school chapel .... a singing choir ... the nativity scene .... friends yelling out "Haaaaaappy Holidays!" .... Sisters smiling indulgently when we asked for an extra piece of chocolate cake from the Convent .... and asking us to be good in the holidays and not to trouble our parents .....

Oh! I can go on and on and on .....

Instead .... here's wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a wonderful and Happy New Year 2010 !!

Dear SharmilaI was virtually enjoying your vacation and I suddenly see this post.(enjoying your vacation means, enjoying the joy I will get when you post travelogue and photos:-) Anyway the vacation is postponed, thats accepted. In my case it has been always the opposite..your boudi has been cancelling forever. :-).Nice cake and your judicious adjustments are great. I am planning to get back to baking cakes and cookies after decade. I am not allowed to touch the main micro & grill combo. So the vintage Oven has been retrieved and cockroaches rendered homeless. Let me see if I can finally start it. :-)Merry Christmas

Wow Sharmila...your post took me back ..not long but few months when i used to enjoy these delicious fruit cakes almost everyday :-)Its been on my mind making one and with all these delicious fruit cakes floating around in blogosphere its getting harder to resist :-)

Your recipes are simple and easy to follow....but they are probably not what has me hooked to your blog.....it's the way you enjoy the simple pleasures of life.I am away from home on work and your blog makes me want to rush back home. Keep writing! You have a gift....

Merry Christmas to you.Unfortunately i do not have an oven...would have loved to try this one. I am trying to convince the husband to buy an OTG this new year. Looking at the tiny size of the kitchen, the task looks pretty daunting. There is absolutely no place for it.

I was wondering about your absence and missed your quick comments....lovely post and equally lovely and perfect looking fruit cake...you know amar most favorite cake...happy holidays and happy happy new year to you two...take care

Dear Sharmila..I stumbled upon your blog when I was searching for some recipe few days back and frankly had to revisit today, even amidst a busy day at work just to see 'whats cooking"! :)There is an amazing simplicity and a palpable 'goodness' in all your blog posts...it simply reminds me of my childhood in kolkata, my mom's kitchen and wraps me in a strange nostalgia..Do keep up the good work and keep posting...Arunima

Sharmila, your blog makes me travel back to those years which I have left behind and at times crave for...those childhood fruit cake days. Enjoy reading your posts and at present can say...the cake looks yummy.

Wishing you and your hubby a very happy and blessed new year!The cake looks fabulous. I love the instant moong dal recipe...so creative and it comes out so well. Please don't let uncalled for, rude comments get you down. Hope your are doing well and everything is good at your end.

The fruit cake brings so much memories as u have said.. looks rich and lovely (yes I had eyed Sunita's cake). I have not made anything this holidays.. nothing at all. But I do wish I had baked a fruit cake atleast.

I just bumped in to your blogspot couple of days before while searching for bengali food recipes.I must admit that the beauty of your prose charmed me much more than your complicated recipes.May be they are good but I could not try them out as the geographical location where I am now, those beautiful ingradients are not available.

However, a friendly suggestion....why don't you take up writing on a regular basis. Try to send them to NOW and AGAIN in Statesman or editorial page in THE TELEGRAPH. Indian writers never bothered much with belles letres. Such a lovely genre has no Indian contributor.